In the 1830s the Lake Mills area fell victim to the outlaw “Fighting Finches,” a family of horse thieves and outlaws that hid some gold near this location. According to the book “The Fighting Finches: tales of freebooters of the pioneer countryside in Rock and Jefferson Counties,”the Fighting Finches were hard-drinking, hard-fisted, and hard-riding crew.
One of their favorite hideouts was here in the London Swamp, where they found an island in the swamp, where law enforcement was afraid to go. The nearby remnants of the Chicago and North Western Railroad were built 30 years after the “Fighting Finches” hid on the island here, so while it is easy to get to the island now, it was not easy to get here back in the 1830s.
It was claimed that they robbed the stage coach on Plank Road of gold and other loot. They used the nearby hideout to evade law enforcement. Skeletons of horses have been found on the island and some think that there stolen loot is still hidden on this island.
Perhaps I found some of their stolen loot while out here, and maybe you can as well. (Or maybe this paragraph is just for fun.) If you follow the directions below to the island. I may have left a clue as to where the gold is at. And if not, at least you will have learned the history of the “Fighting Finches.”
The full history of The Fighting Finches is here.
This cache is located in the Lake Mills State Wildlife Area and Zeloski Marsh Unit. The western unit of the Lake Mills State Wilelife Area is known as the Zeloski Marsh Unit. This 1,700-acre wetland restoration includes a series of six impoundments where water levels are managed for nesting waterfowl, shorebirds, and other species of plants and animals.
The area is easily accessed via lanes established for property management work. The Glacial Drumlin Trail runs through Zeloski Marsh. This cache may be accessed from the Glacial Drumlin Trail or the posted suggested parking coordinates.
The Geocache Notification Form has been submitted to the Wisconsin DNR. Geocaches placed on Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource managed lands require permission by means of a notification form. Please print out a paper copy of the notification form, fill in all required information, then submit it to the land manager. The DNR Notification form and land manager information can be obtained at: http://dnr.wi.gov/files/PDF/forms/2500/2500-118.pdf
The posted coords will take you to a small sign along the Glacial Drumlin Trail that gives some of the history of the Fighting Finches and their secret island hiding place nearby.
Their gold stash was found at the following coords, which I took with me. I left a small plastic cache nearby to mark the location.
N 43° 3.ABC' W 88° 58.DEF'
A = 4
B = The number of letters in the name of the marsh on the sign
C = The number of orange diamonds on the post + 2
D = The number of letters in the name on the lake on the sign - 1.
E = The number of guns on the sign
F = Number of horses on the sign
